Between Ebola And HIV

This is certainly not the
best of times to fall sick. Not with the current Ebola virus scare.  For those who believe its existence, apprehension has taken over the better part of their interaction with other people, particularly those they may have reason to distrust. Even those who are indifferent about its existence are gradually being blown by the whirlwind it has generated.
The situation aptly reminds one of the then dreaded Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS), when it first came to the fore. There was nothing people did not say about it. Initially, people did not know that before it develops to AIDS, it will first be Human Immuno-deficiency Virus (HIV), and that it takes between five and seven (sometimes ten) years to manifest, depending on the resistance of the individual’s body system .
From being a “7-days” sickness (meaning the infected dies after seven days), it became “7-months” sickness. They went as much as thinking that the mere sight of an infected person could result in infection.
People initially thought it was airborne. Later, they said it could be contracted via handshake, kiss, and even through sharing of cloths and footwear with an infected person. But we now know HIV/AIDS better. We now know, for instance, that an HIV-infected person can even get married to a non-infected person (what is called discordant couples) and bear a HIV-free child.
Before now, people openly scampered from anybody hinted to have HIV, including parents, siblings, relations, friends, and, worst of all, medical personnel. A lot of souls were consequently lost, out of share ignorance, which culminated in hyper-stigmatization and its attendant segregation of perceived infected persons.
The situation is replaying itself in the on-going Ebola saga. Almost everywhere in Rivers State is soffused with the “Ebola scare”. Virtually everybody, particularly the government, is under one form of pressure or the other. If the pressure is not about preventing Ebola virus, it is about ensuring that it does not infect the next person.
Like AIDS, people initially believed it was airborne. Some still think so. It is, in fact, believed that this was what warranted the youth protest against the Rivers State Government’s  decision to site  the Ebola quarantine centre in Emohua.
The Rivers State Government’s banning of handshake in the state, which is basically precautionary, and understandably intended to avoid a more serious situation at the time, was also believed to have been done out of inadequate information on the Ebola virus.
Currently, people run helter skelter from any hint of fever. The type of fever does not really matter. The principle seems to be “run to a safe distance and, if you like, draw government’s attention”. This is mostly because, for now, all eyes are on the government to point the way forward in the quest to prevent the Ebola virus from spreading.
This is indeed the most dangerous period in the reign of the Ebola virus, no doubt. It is the period in which so much havoc could be done to families, communities, local governments, states, and the Nigerian State before the dust raised could settle down.
It is for this reason that government at all levels, and indeed everyone, need to embark on a lot of enlightenment of the citizenry. This is primarily because beyond the threat posed by the ailment, and their attendant challenges, there are also those who require such scenarios to enrich themselves at the detriment of society.
Everybody should, therefore, be bothered about the development that immediately someone presents himself/herself as suffering from fever, everybody around run for dear life, including health personnel, doctors inclusive. Obviously, the death of Dr. Iyke Enemua through what is believed to be Ebola-related is still very fresh in our memory.
One can thus imagine the number of persons who may have quarantined themselves because they have malaria, for fear of being stigmatized and, perhaps, officially quarantined. And if the ailment manifests in just 21 days, as we’ve been told, it means that the rate of contacting the virus through a self-quarantined person would be high.
This is why in addition to giving the ailment adequate publicity, similar efforts should be made to totally de-stigmatize infected persons, so they could easily present themselves for treatment early enough. Any delay, as it is  sometimes the case with HIV, can only spell doom for the populace.